I’m Teaching a BurdaStyle Webinar!!!/ Alteration DVD Review

It is with Great honor that I announce I’ll be teaching  a Burdastyle webminar this Monday at 2pm!!!! I can’t tell you how excited I am!!!! Who doesn’t love Burdastyle???  They offer such wonderful patterns, sewing information, forums and webinars. My webinar is entitled, “Sewing Time Management: Find and Maximize Your Sewing Time!” and without giving anything away let me just say it will be a REAL TREAT! It definitely won’t be your run of the mill time management presentation. It will be witty, fun and chalked full of great insights. Through helpful illustrations I hope to give everyone lots of strategies that they can immediately implement.  If you’re no good at your sewing time management this will really help and if you are just looking to pick up some additional trips you won’t be disappointed either. I LOVVVEEEEEEE to teach and inspire those to take common topics and look at them from another angle. I don’t’ know about you but I constantly strive to hone my sewing skill and thusly have to work at my time management as well.  They both go hand in hand.  Because let’s just face it, we all can benefit from information that help us create more time for our sewing passion.

If interested you can register for my webinar here….. http://register.burdastyle.com/Course?CourseId=9000-22. The class is only $19.  It's advertised on the main BurdaStyle page and on the BurdaStyle blog as well. Again, I’m SO excited and look forward to sharing and translating that excitement  into  a helpful and informative webinar!!!! Go ahead and register! What are you waiting for? If you can't attend you can still register and receive a link to review it later:) 

Also, please allow me to catch up on my blog posts. Client work has been dominating my schedule but I promised to review Gentleman Jim’s Basic Alteration DVD for quite some time.  As you know he's my tailoring teacher and an amazing Master Tailor. Well here goes….

I ABSOLUTELY love Mr. Jim's Alteration DVD!  That's just all there is too it! The content is what makes this review stellar! This was Mr. Jim's first shot at making a DVD and as he admits he had a bit of a learning curve back in 2005. I think it's a wonderful first DVD. BTW--shameless plug--- His next one on "Pants" will debut in November.  Anyhow, I offer alterations as part of my sewing business. And believe it or not they are WAY more lucrative then custom sewing. The info disclosed in this DVD is perfect for anyone wanting to learn how to do alterations professionally or personally. The DVD deals with an array of alterations like hemming pant, shortening a sleeve on a blouse or coat, replacing zippers etc. It really covers all of your basic alteration needs. This DVD is currently on sale for 50% off over AT HIS BLOG (finetailoringbyjim.blogspot.com) with a 25% off discount on his pants DVD.  You'll find all of that info here.....http://finetailoringbyjim.blogspot.com/2013/10/sale-sale-sale-my-alteration-2-dvd-set.html. I'm so glad I got my copy (wink)!

Sewing DVD Reviews.....

Ok, I've been promising to review these Silhouette Pattern DVD's, I bought a couple of months ago, for quite some time now. I took a few notes on these a while back and lost my notes. But because I love you guys so much I re-watched them again (sorta skimming through the materials) to give you my honest opinions/ratings. I bought these during a sales event so that was an added plus. I kinda knew their quality would be good given the fact that I own majority of Peggy's videos. Ok, enough about that...the reviews are below.....

Darts are a Girl's Best Friend
Grade A+++

Pros: Lots of demonstrations of various dart manipulations on the flat pattern level.
Cons: No sewing/draping. Only flat pattern manipulation.

This is an excellent video!!! Peggy really shows dart manipulation in an easy and unintimidating way. She uses ample examples and demonstrates changing the darts to mimic those styles. I love that she shows the flat pattern work using poster board and features dart manipulations on a bodice, skirt, pant and sleeve. She even shows how to convert darts to other design features such as gathers, etc. And in typical Peggy fashion she  This is great for me since I'm slowly teaching myself draping and trying to better understand pattern drafting. I definitely recommend this for anyone wanting to gain a better understanding on how important darts are for shaping and creating different designs.


Leather is for Everybody
Grade A
 
Pros: Lots of basic introductory information on the world of leathers. Mostly in a lecture format.
Cons: Not many demos.

This is actually a very cool DVD. I really did open my mind to the world of leathers and the varieties that exists out there. I received a serious education!!! Very intriguing. I had no idea there were so many varieties! The most exotic one I thought was cool was stingray!!!! Peggy gave great hints on how to calculate the amount of leather needed for your projects. Since it doesn't have a grain you can lay pattern pieces every which way. She also gives tips on needles and stitch lengths to use. She demonstrates by partially sewing up a jacket. She also showed how to finish seams to. This DVD was very informative.


Yoga Pants
Grade B-

 Pros: Great if you want to change up basic yoga pants pattern.
Cons: No pants fitting!!! Not really useful if you don't want to change up the basic pattern.

Yoga pants are all the rave!!!! So in addition to purchasing the pattern I thought I'd get the accompanying DVD. I would've loved for this to be a fitting DVD but these pants are SO easy to fit that there really is no need to. I also think Peggy may have done a webcast on the fitting part. So DVD just shows how to change the pattern up a bit. I have yet to make my first pair of Yoga pants (it's in my sewing queue)---I can't wait. Then I can look into possibly making changes to the pattern. Not certain. I personally never show my waistbands so a shirred waist won't make a difference. But for those of you who do then this would be good for you.

DVD Review: Eleven Minutes

Hey this week has been "über exhausting"---my most exhausting in weeks. Work has been zapping my energy and I've been struggling to keep up with it all. I did manage to quickly sew up my Butterick dress (mentioned in the last post) and just have to hem it so I can post a review. But thank God it's the weekend and I'm feeling more like myself again! The sewing must and sewing related activities must continue (for the sake of my sanity alone)!!!
So it's time to catch up on my posts and catch up with some of my sewing. I don't like being away too long:)

Ok, I watched this DVD about a week or so ago but hadn't got around to reviewing it. I have to admit I enjoyed Eleven Minutes, which detailed the first runway show of the Project Runway First Season Winner, Jay McCarroll.
 
Most of you might remember Jay, and probably a few pieces from his Project Runway collection. Here he is and here's one of his memorable pieces.

Well after his Project Runway debut it appeared that Jay disappeared from the face of the earth. Everyone had such high hopes for him and awaited his collection. It took a few years for him to resurface and he did so in this movie. What I personally liked about this movie is that it detailed the process of bringing a collection to Bryant Park's Fashion Week. From the need to have financial backing (which in his case was the Humane Society), to developing a concept, outsourcing to have fashions created, to picking models, and finally to taking the looks to the runway---this movie captures it all. There's so much work, stress, and drama that goes into a runway show that only takes "eleven minutes" (hence the title of the movie). And on top of all this Jay is definitely a "character". He's sarcastic, funny, unfortunately at times has a "potty mouth" but despite it all he has and "air of brilliance". I loved the theme of his fashion line and how he brought it to life. He has such creativity and imagination. I'm surprised he didn't buckle under all the pressure and stress of his endeavor. As a result of his hard work and perserverance, he was able to sell his line to stores. Check out the movie website here http://www.elevenminutes-jaymccarroll.com/

So if you have the time and interest, while you're sewing up one of your little cute numbers, I recommend you check out this dvd. At the very least I think it gives a raw and edgy perspective into the world of fashion design and production, different then what you've experienced watching reality TV.

I give this movie a B+